Where Are They Now? Checking In On Four Cardiovascular Start-Ups

Cardiovascular drug development is not for the faint of heart – especially if you are a small venture-backed start-up. While revenues for current CV drugs exceed $90 billion, there's no question the market is downsizing, as Big Pharma pulls away from the space, frustrated by the increasingly high regulatory hurdles – and costs – associated with cardiovascular drug development in what is increasingly a generic world. Caught in the middle of this wholesale transition are smaller venture-backed outlets formed five to seven years ago, when the words "primary care" held a positive connotation and significant financing for clinical trials was comparatively easier to obtain.

Big Pharma's interest in cardiovascular dealmaking began to shift in late 2006, when Pfizer Inc.'s late-stage follow-on to Lipitor (atorvastatin), the high-density lipoprotein-boosting CETP inhibitor torcetrapib, failed late-stage clinical...